Efforts have been ongoing to facilitate Santino's adjustment to routine and to expectations regarding behavior. His routine is kept as consistent as possible so that skills commensurate with expectations may be acquired. Today, Santino was shown where to put his book bag and where to find his communication book. Although he as yet does not identify his teacher by pointing to her picture, he has become more familiar with it and will watch as I point to myself and my picture while saying and showing him my name. We spent the first hour working on activities that tapped upon gross motor skill development. Santino was shown basic movements on short beams, and encouraged to replicate the teacher's movements, placing one foot directly in front of the other. Santino understood what was expected in this activity and demonstrated good gross motor skills and the ability to imitate my movements. He has gotten more comfortable on the playground and has become more skilled and adept at using the equipment, trying different ways to engage with different recreational apparatus and exploring the terrain and grounds. He enjoys letting the mulch slip through his fingers and will often play and examine it from different angles and heights. We then proceeded indoors to the kitchen and washed our hands. Santino was afforded hand-over-hand assistance to turn on the faucets, and he lathered his hands independently. Today, he held the paper towel handed to him and was shown how to us it properly. He especially enjoyed the water today; he leaned his head down to feel it splash on his face and even drank some. When shown different snack items, Santino brought my hand to his yogurt snack, indicating he wished to eat it. He was afforded hand-over-hand prompts initially, but required physical assistance to feed himself. For the remainder of the session, Santino was given opportunities to engage in activities to develop fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination (for example; he was helped to align a variety of different objects with their beginning letter equivalents). He was assisted in carrying out personal care and hygiene routines, such as keeping his hands clean by washing them frequently, in order to guard against illness, remove germs from his hands, and prevent infections -as Santino frequently touches his eyes, nose and mouth. It is also a beneficial means by which to reinforce and consolidate emergent gains noted in self-care skills. (Note: this aligns with Common Core: SP.PK12.US.8.1)